On July 24, 2014, 14-year-old April Dawn Millsap was beaten and stomped to death while walking her dog on the famous Macomb Orchard Trail. This turned the lives of many people upside down. As “How I Caught My Killer: You Can See the Panic” shows, her killer, James VanCallis Jr., and his girlfriend, Krystal Stradler, were among them, but in very different ways. So, if you want to know more about the latter, we’ve covered you. We’ll focus on her relationship with James, what she had to do with the case, and where she stands now.
Krystal Stadler, who dated VanCallis on and off for almost nine years, told a jury in Macomb County Circuit Court today that she found the hair and grass when she went to wash his clothes a few days later at his home in St. Clair County. She said that she put the coat and grass on a sink and then forgot about them.
Stadler said that VanCallis’s black and white Nike shoes, which he wore when he rode his motorcycle to his brother’s house in Armada on July 24, 2014, also went missing.
Millsap slaying suspect ‘had an angry look.’
Stadler said that when she woke up that night, VanCallis was using hand sanitiser to clean the shoes he wore every day. He told her that he was cleaning the boots of oil. She said that after the murder, her shoes and a shoe box with essential papers went missing.
Stadler also told the jury that VanCallis later said to her that he “messed up” and that he needed her to stand by his side, but he didn’t say why.
VanCallis, 34, of Goodells, is on trial for killing April. He is accused of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, kidnapping, and assault with the intent to commit sexual penetration. Stadler’s testimony was the last of the second week of testimony. April died from a blow to the head and suffocation from her neck being squeezed.
Police say that VanCallis hit Millsap with his motorcycle helmet, then dragged her into the woods and beat her to death with his feet. They said he then took off on his motorcycle, leaving the teen’s body in the woods. Her backpack and cell phone were taken.
Who is Krystal Stadler?
When Krystal, a high school senior from Michigan, was 17, she met James for the first time. Even though he was already in his 20s, he tried to start a relationship with her. In the original Hulu episode, she said, “I guess you could call it to love at first sight.” “I mean, he used to be a nice guy, but once we started dating, he completely changed. “He was rude.” According to the docuseries, he even moved her into the house he shared with his father after she graduated so that he could keep her away from people and control almost every part of her life.
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